emery



(No Model.) 2 sheets sneeu.

- r A; J E'MERY.

Apparatus for and Process of Drying Vegetables e and Fruit.

No'. 237,003". I Patented Jan. 25,1881.

OOOQ QG OO NPETERS. PHOTO-LITHOGHAPHER. WAQHINGTON. D C.

(No Model.) v ZSheets-Sheet 2c 6 A. EMERY. Apparatus for and Process of Drying Vegetables and Fruit. No. 237,003. Patented Jan. 25,1881.

mine me I Even 7527' N. FETUS, PNOTD-LITHOGRAPHIEE WASHINGTON, D. C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AUGUSTUS J. EMEBY, OF YORK, N. Y.

APPARATUSFOR AND PROCESS OF DRY ING VEGETABLES AND FRUIT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No 237,003, dated January 25, 1881. Application filed December 4, 1880. (No model.)

To all whom tt may concern:

Be it known that I, AUGUSTUS J. EMERY, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, in the county of New York and State of NewYork,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for and Process of DryingVegetables and Fruit; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters or figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

Figure 1 shows, in section and partial elevation, the interior and exterior of a drying apparatus, showing how the present invention can be carried out. Fig. 2 is a cross-section on line a: m of Fig. 1.

This invention relates to an improvement in the process or method of treating and desiccating vegetables and fruit; and the novelty consists in the manner and details by which this is carried out, all as will now be fully and formally set out and explained.

Heretofore it has been found difficult, if not quite impossible, in treating such substances to carry on at the same time the disintegrating or cutting process simultaneously with the drying, and consequently these two operations or portions of the processhave necessarily been carried on so separately either as to time or place, or both, as to render the treatment very costly and require much time to accomplish or perfect it.

By myinvention all this is substantially obviated, The details by which this is done are as follows: Thevegetable matters to be treated, having been properly prepared, as by removing the skin, stoning, or otherwise, is fed into hopper a at one end of a cylindrical or other shaped and suitable chamber or vessel, A, which is provided with knives or sharpedged projections B, to mesh with other knives or cutting-edges O on'a revolving shaft, D, passing centrally through said chamber or vessel. Astream ot'hot air, preferablymade very dry, is injected or otherwise introduced by pipe E into said vessel or chamber at the same time, and this will desiccatethe vegetable or fruit as it is being cut up and carry 011' all the moisture. The knives or cutting-edges on the central shaft being set in spirals will cause the articles treated to be fed forward from the point of inlet to that of exit at chute a. The drying and cutting chamber or vessel is surrounded or enveloped by a steam jacket or chamber, E, and this will serve to keep the temperature of said vessel or chamber uniform and below the point of cooking or overheating. Steam can be admitted into this jacket by'pipe f and let off by pipe f, and these pipes may be suitably provided with cut-off valves. The moisture arising during the process will escape from the feed-chute or from an outlet, 0, at the rear part of the cylinder, nearly over the exit chute or pipe, and this can be suitably governed by valves or cut-offs.

The knives and cutting-edges will be set so far apart at or near the inlet or feed end as to cut the vegetables or fruit coarsely, while this gage is so decreased beyond and along toward the exit end as to give a very fine cut. Thus practically the vegetable or fruit will be substantially granulated as well as thoroughly dried when it is delivered from the exit end. It will be then in a suitable condition to be ground into flour or otherwise used.

Heretofore devices have been used for drying substances whole, where said substances have been conveyed by screw and from end to end of steam-jacketed cylinders into the opposite end of which hot air was admitted, and also fecal matter has been stirred and dried in steam-jacketed chambers into which hot air is admitted; but in the details of structure my device or apparatus essentially differs from all these, and the manipulation or steps for carrying on the process of drying and granulating are also radically different.

Having thus described my invention, what I consider new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The within-described process of simultaneously drying and granulating fruit or vegetables, consistin gin submitting them to the influence of heat in a chamber in which are oper ated graduated cutters, substantially in the manner and for the purposes set forth.

2. A drying-chamber, A, having hot-air inraagmwmzm combination of the stationary knives on the inside of the drying-chamberwith those spirally arranged on the revolving shaft, whereby the gage diminishes from feed to exit and the substance to be dried and granulated is gradually reduced to very fine particles or pieces, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

AUGUSTUS J. EMERY.

Witnesses:

G. W. BALLOCH, J. H. HU'LING. 

